Sol Ho'opi'i - Radio Sol (1938)

Meet Sol Ho'opi'i, the man responsible for popularizing the lap-steel guitar in Hawaiian music. Wonderfully upbeat and incredibly impressive. Tracks to check out are "Hula Girl", "12th Street Rag", and "My Hawaiian Queen".

Get it here: Radio Sol

Ishlihan N-Tenere: Guitar Music From the Western Sahel (2010)

“This compilation highlights recordings of local guitar bands in three areas of modern day Senegal and Mali. These bands are almost unknown outside of their homes but have a devoted local following. They play all events, celebratory or political. Their songs are folk anthems, hummed under the breath and chanted by children, traded by cassette and transferred by cellphone. The guitar bands are the pride of their towns.”

Get it here: Guitar Music From the Western Sahel


The album is available only on vinyl, however, you can download it via bandcamp for only two dollars. 60% of the profits go directly to the artists. Do it. Be moral.

The Sound of Kinsasha: Guitar Classics from Zaire (1993)

This album is a compilation created by musicologist John Storm Roberts in an effort to trace the evolution of the rumba and to analyze the influence of Cuban rhythms on African folk styles. This collection serves to present an dizzying array of heavy rhythms as well as a primer to some Sub-Saharan popular guitar styles.

Get it here: The Sound of Kinsasha

S.E. Rogie - Palm Wine Guitar Music: The 60's Sound (1988)

The sweet, old West African tradition of palm wine guitar has few great players left. Palm wine music dates back to the days when Portuguese sailors first introduced guitars to West African port cities. Early African guitarists and bottle percussionists played at gatherings where revelers drank the fermented sap of palm trees, a traditional alternative to bottled beer. S. E. Rogie, palm wine music's greatest ambassador, began his career as "The Jimmy Rodgers of Sierra Leone." His early hit "My Sweet Elizabeth" stands as the most popular song Sierra Leone has produced to date. After he left home in 1973, Rogie's long, up-and-down career took him around West Africa, to the US, and ultimately to England, where he recorded, taught, and performed vigorously until his sudden death at the age of 68.
-Afropop.org

Get it here: SE Rogie - Palm Wine Guitar Music

Moondog on the Streets of New York

Liner notes from the UK release:


Moondog is an itinerant musician-composer, who has appeared on the sidewalks of various parts of mid-town New York playing his original compositions on seldom heard instruments - several of which are of his own invention. Apart from the appeal he has had with sidewalk audiences, he has also attracted important attention from serious music students and composers who have evaluated his unique perception of melodies and rhythms as possessing academic qualities commensurate with the progress made by the "avant garde" composers. That Moondog has found it necessary to resort to sidewalk concerts is not a reflection on his ability, but possibly a commentary on the status of young composers in America, according to one group of disciples.
On the streets of new York was recorded by Tony Schwartz as part of his project called New York 19. The music heard in the EP is the result of recording and editing several hours of taped music in order to cull the most unusual. In this record, Moondog plays several new instruments - the "oo", the utsu", and the "samisen". In one composition, recorded near the Hudson River piers, the tugboat and ocean liners' whistles and foghorns complement the composition, while Moondog plays and improvises; in another work, the actual sound of New York traffic - automobile motors, taxi horns, sounds of brakes, etc. - is used similarly. The record includes six other works, one featuring his wife, Suzuko.


Moondog was born Louis Thomas Hardin, in Kansas in 1917. His parents were missionaries and he spent most of his youth in Indian reservations in the West. At the age of sixteen, he became blind and about the same time became interested in music. Influence of the primitive surroundings of his early environment is evidenced in his compositions. He can play, in addition to the various instruments heard on his records, piano, organ, clarinet, all the string instruments and most of the other woodwind instruments. He lives in New York with his wife, Suzuko. She is capable of singing in three octaves, and lately figures prominently as vocalist on his recordings and in appearances.


Get it here: Moondog on the Streets of New York

Oliver Wallace - Der Fuehrer's Face

Here's a wonderful/obscene song by Oliver Wallace that was featured in an early 1940's Donald Duck bit. Note the reliance on the stereotypically flamboyant recital of Nazi ideology early on in the track. Way to go, Disney.

 Remember when Adorno said, "Poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric."? What a dummy.

Mata La Pena: A Compilation of International Music (2009)

"Global music of indeterminate origin, but indisputable beauty from Mississippi Records – from otherworldly vocals-only tunes, to lovely and lush arrangements – strains of calypso, Thai balladry, rural American yodeling, Hawaiian ukulele tunes, and beyond! There's no notes, but the mysteriousness is part of the allure!"

A taste of what's on the record:
Arizona Yodeler - The DeZurik Sisters & El Amanecer - Roberto y Su Orquesta Tipica


Get it here: Mata La Pena

Ilhan Mimaroglu - Two Composition for Electromagnetic Tape (1976)

"Turkish-born musician and composer Ilhan Mimaroglu worked extensively with electronic (tape) music. The two programmatic pieces paired here are "To Kill a Sunrise," a dirge subtitled "Requiem for Those Shot in the Back" with words borrowed from a poem by Guatemalan guerilla poet Marco Antonio Flores, and "La Ruche," an experiment of reminiscences titled after the famous building in Paris that housed Picasso, Apollinaire and others."

Git it here: To Kill a Sunrise and La Ruche & Liner Notes (PDF)

A short musing sparked by this record that I just wanted to get out of my system:

During the bit in "To Kill a Sunrise", when voices read off the dates of historically significant deaths, appears September 11th 1973. Before hearing the year 1973, I immediately thought 2001 - which would be impossible since it was recorded in '76 - but still, my initial reaction to the words 'September 11th' was to imagine a sort of concept around the terrorist attacks of 2001. Essentially, when I heard Sept. 11 my immediate mental reaction was to think about 9/11, as if one was metonymy for the other, ignoring the murder of Allende and the Chilean coup completely. It wasn't until '1973' was spoken that I thought of him. This got me thinking a bit about memory, specifically historical memory, involving a recognition of major events in the past. 

The United States aided greatly in the coup and death of President Allende, as well as pretty much reconditioned the subsequent political economy into a caricature of neo-liberalism. The Pinochet regime was responsible for killing thousands of Chileans, torturing more than ten times that number, and exiling hundreds of thousands. The economy concentrated wealth like you would not believe, the state was forced to adopt severe austerity measures while unemployment reached the double-digits, leaving the vast majority of the population unable to afford food or basic supplies. 

That goes to say that I already know this information, and plausibly, this could be synthesized into a concept like the one I have for 9/11; moreover, my mind could intuitively imagine that concept when I hear Sept. 11th rather than the one it did before. I am quite interested in the process by which I intuitively think WTC when I hear Sept. 11th, and not the tragedy in Chile, or why I don't imagine a different metonymy altogether. Here are two cases of terrorism and of tragedy, both involving the United States and the deaths of thousands of civillians from the country attacked, both occurring on the same date. Mentally, there took place a sort of sleight of hand by which I thought one and not the other or both, which theoretically, should point to a larger social process that at least attempts to provoke this sort of event. In short, the whole thing stinks of ideology.

Maybe you're familiar with this, but contemporary Marxism claims that ideology under capitalism views the recognition of history as irrelevant. Could that explain the metonymic relationship between "9/11" and September 11th and the simultaneous absence of Allende from this picture? Furthermore, how does the absence of the recognition of US's negative role in the movement of history manifest itself in our experiences within the Social or the Political? Are there any more claims to be made from this point concerning the process of social conditioning?

If anyone wants to sit and chat about this with me I would be so happy. 

The Contemporary Contrabass: New American Music by John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Ben Johnston

"Here's an interesting LP that seems to have slipped through the cracks. The Contemporary Contrabass consists of a combination of Contrabass authority Bertram Turetzky and some of the most influential and innovative composers of the 20th century.

The A side is entirely devoted to a reading of Cage's 26'1.1499" for a String Player. While the B side spices things up with compositions from Pauline Oliveros and Ben Johnston. Oliveros' piece Outline was written specifically for Turetzky and takes a step away from her usual electronic composition, as it showcases a rare instrumental piece of her. Other musicians on this recording include Nancy Turetzky - flutes, & Ronald George - percussion. While Johnston's Casta Bertram (Bertram becuase the composition calls for the piece to include the name of the performer to be included in the title) is a unique composition the relies heavily on the performer for the final outcome of the music. An interesting look into the world of solo contrabass.

Turetzky is seen as a leading figure for the contrabass. He has published articles on the instrument as well as performing many new compositions for the instrument, many of which being written specifically for him."
-transcendentalsound.blogspot.com

Get it here: The Contemporary Contrabass

Calypso at Midnight! (1946)

Here's a wonderful recording by Alan Lomax of a concert performed on 21 December 1946. The performers include Lord Invader, Macbeth, and The Duke of Iron - all outstanding Calypsonians. Preceding every song is an introduction or dialogue by Lomax and each artist - greatly informative and highly entertaining. If you were at all interested in the previous post's citation from Lyotard, you'll love this. Lomax and the Calypsonians spend a lot of time discussing the importance of folk traditions and how they serve to share knowledge among Caribbean people. Definitely check out "Do Lai Do", a traditional Trinidadian work song. Sadly, I cannot find the original liner notes, but if I find them I will post them.

Great bit of trivia: Lord Invader's song "Rum and Coca-Cola" was never played on an American radio station, despite its popularity, because of Coke's claim that Invader was infringing on their copyright of the word "Coca-Cola". However, the song was made insanely popular by The Andrews Sisters. It's a great version, but very very "white".

Get it here: Calypso at Midnight!

Lord Invader & His Trinidad Caribbean Orchestra - Calypso (1955)

Recorded by Moses Asch in New York 1955. Lord Invader (1914-1961) was arguably the most prominent Calypsonian of the genre's early period. Recognition is deserved from his vocal style alone, however the subject matter of his songs are equally impressive. Ranging from politics and race to light-hearted social songs like Rum and Coca-Cola, this is easily one of the most impressive styles of 20th Century's legacy of folk music.

When listening to Calypso I can't help but recall Jean-Francois Lyotard's description of the role of rhythm in the transferring of narrative forms of knowledge:

A fourth aspect of narrative knowledge meriting careful examination is its effect on time. Narrative form follows a rhythm; it is the synthesis of a meter beating in time in regular periods and of accent modifying the length or amplitude of certain of those periods. This vibratory, music property of narrative is clearly revealed in the ritual performance of certain tales: they are handed down in ceremonies...in a language whose meaning is obscured by lexical and syntactic anomalies, and they are sung as interminable, monotonous chants....

...[Narrative knowledge] exhibits a surprising feature: as meter takes precedence over accent in the production of sound (spoken or not), time ceases to be a support for memory to become an immemorial beating that, in the absence of a noticeable separation between periods, prevents their being numbered and cosigns them to oblivion. Consider the form of popular sayings, proverbs, and maxims: they are like little splinters of potential narratives...In their prosody can be recognized the mark of that strange temporalization that jars the golden rule of our knowledge: "never forget".

- The Post-Modern Condition: A Report on Knowledge

Get it here: Lord Invader & His Trinidad Caribbean Orchestra - Calypso & Liner Notes (PDF)

Classic Railroad Songs from Smithsonian Folkways (2006)

"As 19th-century America expanded, so too did the "ribbons of iron" that crisscrossed the vast landscape and sparked the imagination of music-makers. Work songs, ballads recounting riveting exploits, and instrumental echoes of the once familiar sounds of the steam locomotive have enshrined the railroad in our musical memory. Classic Railroad Songs mines the Smithsonian Folkways archives to create this tribute to a favorite American source of inspiration. 36-page booklet. 71 minutes."


Get it here: Classic Railroad Songs & Liner Notes (PDF)

London is the Place For Me Vol. 2 - Calypso Kwela Highlife from Young Black London

(This collection has some of the best album art, period)

"Truth is, there are no standout tracks here. It's all wall to wall magic and beauty and loose-limbed dance rhythms. But Campbell's percussion only "Ashiko Rhythm," a mellow hand drums, thumb piano, and gong-gong workout on the basic shave-and-a-haircut/two-bits beat, and the Rhythm Brothers' delicate and lullaby-like closer "Sing The Blues," can't go by without mention.

Musical value aside, London Is The Place For Me 2 is also an acutely timely reminder of the glory that is London's multicultural mix—something we cannot allow to be destroyed by the psychopathic death cult behind this month's bomb outrages in the city. One love."

-Chris May at All About Jazz (2005)

Get it here: London is the Place For Me Vol. 2

London is the Place For Me - Trinidadian Calypso in London (1950-1965)

Travelling with their own core audience, the Trinidadian calypsonians brought with them the vocal music of Carnival. Traditionally this ranges from social satire to sexual double-entendre, from voodoo to the most pressing issues of the day, from sporting events to competitive insult. The experiences of Britain’s growing Caribbean population were to be fabulously rich in raw material. 


Here's Stuart Hall's review in The Guardian: ".. a witty and joyous testament to the creative power of popular culture and a document of more innocent times. It constitutes one of the best starting points for that rich, unfinished history of the black British diaspora and its intricate interweaving with British life that remains to be written."

Get it here: London is the Place for Me

Sun Ra - Second Star to the Right (A Salute to Walt Disney) [1989]

It's a damn shame I can't find the liner notes to this album. Here's Sun Ra's take on some of Disney's best tracks, including Zip-a-dee-doo-dah and Whistle While You Work. 

Get it here: Sun Ra - Second Star to the Right

Mississippi Records - I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore (1927-1948)

This record is immigrant music recorded in America that’s barely, if at all, touched or infected by American music. It opens with Marika Papagika’s Greek masterpiece “Zmirneikos Balos” (she was a singer who “died of disappointment” in New York in 1943). It also has a beautiful sad song by the Blue Sky Boys called “Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone” and a bunch of Hawaiian and French recordings.  - VICE Magazine

Listen Here:

 

 Get It Here: Mississippi Records - I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore

Eduardo Falu - Falu Plays Falu Vol. 3

More Argentine folklore. A friend and contemporary of Atahualpa Yupanqui.

Get It Here: Eduardo Falu - Falu plas Falu Vol. 3

Angola Prisoners' Blues (1959)

"In 1959, a young folklorist and musicologist, Harry Oster, traveled to the State Prison in Angola, Louisiana to collect folksongs. He made a number of field recordings while at the prison, but his biggest discovery was undoubtedly the Louisiana Blues Hall of Famer, Robert Pete Williams, a truly gifted musician and blues writer, who was serving a life sentence. Of the 9 songs on this album, four are by Williams, who sings heart-wrenchingly about prison life and being down and out. Thanks to Oster, Williams was eventually released from prison, and was able to have a fairly successful career as a bluesman in the 60s and 70s, appearing at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival and touring the US and Europe. The other musicians featured here, fellow inmates Robert “Guitar” Welch and Matthew “Hogman” Maxey, are both extremely gifted musicians, but in the words of Dr. Oster, “they are primarily the heirs of a clearly defined and standardized blues tradition, rather than innovators.” In any case, this is acoustic prison blues at its finest, and includes such detailed liner notes as well as an annotated track listing that it is equal parts musical and historical document."


Tracks:

1. Levee Camp Blues (Robert Pete Williams)

2. Stagolee (Hogman Maxey)

3. Electric Chair Blues (Guitar Welch)

4. Prisoner's Talking Blues (Robert Pete Williams)

5. Motherless Children Have a Hard Time (Robert Pete Williams)

6. Black Night Fallin' (Hogman Maxey)

7. Some Got Six Months (Robert Pete Williams)

8. I'm Gonna Leave You Mama (Guitar Welch)

9. I'm Lonesome Blues (Robert Pete Williams)

Re-issued by Doxy Music 2010
Get It Here: Angola Prisoners' Blues 

Joseph Spence - Happy All the Time (1964)

Get it here: Joseph Spence - Happy All the Time

A Winged Victory for the Sullen - Self-Titled

Recent Stars of the Lid side project, Adam Wiltzie (Stars of the Lid) and Dustin O'Halloran team up to create wonderfully spacious and droning harmonies accompanied by melancholy piano and strings. Headphones are definitely warranted for this one.

Listen Here:

A Winged Victory For The Sullen - A Symphony Pathetique (Montauk In February Remix) by erasedtapes

Get it Here: A Winged Victory for the Sullen

Joseph Spence - The Complete Folkways Recordings (1958)

"Like many musicians whose playing is uniquely individual, Spence also felt himself as part of a long tradition of Bahaman folk. He was one of the rare musicians whose own abilities are so unusual that they, in turn, reshape the tradition from which they've come. It isn't possible to think of Bahaman music— and finger-picked acoustic guitar music— without thinking of Spence, and at the same time, there is no one like him. There isn't much more a musician can accomplish than this, but Spence, with his friendly laugh and his characteristic shake of his head when he was praised, certainly wouldn't think he'd done even that much." - Sam Charters

Just for the novelty:



Get it here: Joseph Spence - The Complete Folkways Recordings (1958)

Mississippi Records - Been Here All My Days (From the George Mitchell Archives)

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, GEORGE MITCHELL recorded extensively in the South. Mitchell concentrated mainly on local blues traditions recording some famous bluesmen and many otherwise ignored artists. The George Mitchell Collection was originally released as a series of forty-five EPs on Fat Possum, this LP contains Mississipi’s favorite fourteen tracks. This LP represents songs from many well known blues musicians such as FRED MCDOWELL, FURRY LEWIS and JOE CALICOTT, as well as some from criminally under represented artists like JESSIE MAE HEMPHILL, ROSA LEE HILL and JOHN LEE ZIEGLER. 


Track List:
1. Who's Gonna Be Your Man / John Lee Ziegler 4:47
2. Bullying Well / Rosa Lee Hill 4:47
3. Shake 'Em On Down / Fred McDowell 3:03
4. What Makes Grandma Love Grandpa / Jimmy Lee Williams 4:15
5. Old Country Rock #1 / James Davis 3:56
6. Big Road Blues / Houston Stackhouse 2:39
7. Search Me Lord / James Shorter 2:44
8. Home Going / Jessie Mae Hemphill 2:34
9. Georgia Buck / Precious Bryant 2:34
10. Country Blues / Joe Callicott 3:37
11. Rabbit On A Log / Lonzie Thomas 2:33
12. Trouble Brought Me Down / Greeb Paschal 1:47
13. Good Morning Judge / Furry Lewis 5:50
14. Hold My Body Down / Robert Johnson 2:51


Get it here: Mississippi Records - Been Here All My Days

Atahualpa Yupanqui - El Canto de la Tierra

Yo quiero un caballo negro,

Y unas espuelas de plata,

Para alcanzar a la vida,

Que se me escapa;

Que se me escapa.

Atahualpa Yupanqui is a hero of mine. Arguably the most important figure in Argentine folklore, ranging from the poetic to the political - because the two merely cannot exist as one - he was revered for his lyrics and exiled for his Communism. After taking part in a failed uprising against the Argentine state, he was exiled to France where he met and toured with Edith Piaf.

Even if you don't have the means to enjoy his lyrics in the original language, any listener can bathe in the beautiful rhythms of folklore and appreciate his grace on the fretboard. And if you do understand the his poetic verses you'll end up yearning for more.

Give it a listen:



Get it here: Atahualpa Yupanqui - El Canto de la Tierra

Grayson & Whitter - Recordings (1928-30)

An extensive list of some of the most famous American folk tunes. These guys stayed true to the tradition of old-time stomps and ballads. In this set you'll find hits like 'Train 45', 'Tom Dooley', 'Short Life of Trouble', and 'Nobody's Darling'.

Get it Here: Grayson and Whitter - The Recordings

Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges (2011)

Colin Stetsons' latest release via Constellation Records. Highly experimental, these tracks add a contemporary color to a vast layering of sounds leaving the listener unable to categorize the album. It's definitely worth a listen.

COLIN STETSON - Judges (preview) by Constellation Records

Get it here: Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol. 2